College Football Countdown: No. 111 Indiana

9:48 a.m. EST, April 24, 2012|By Matt Murschel, Orlando Sentinel

The Orlando Sentinel has ranked all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in the country. The Sentinel staff will take a closer look at a new team daily, counting backward from No. 120 to our projected No. 1 team. We will not be including the four teams the NCAA lists as still reclassifying to the Football Bowl Subdivision level.

Look back: The Hoosiers struggled in Kevin Wilson’s first season. Loaded with inexperience, Indiana struggled out of the gate in 2011 losing its first two games before garnering its first win over FCS opponent South Carolina State. IU stumbled the rest of the way losing nine straight games to finish the season as that experience caught up with them.

Strengths: Tre Roberson became the first true freshman to start at quarterback for the Hoosiers and with six starts under his belt, Kevin Wilson and new offensive coordinator Seth Littrell have a good mix of experience and talent to work with. Cutting down the sophomore’s miscues will be key for a Hoosiers offense that ranked 83rd in the country in total offense. Indiana ranked ninth in the Big Ten in rushing offense thanks to Roberson and rusher Stephen Houston, who had 802 rushing yards and eight touchdowns last season. The defense returns eight starters including the team’s second-leading tackler safety Mark Murphy. The squad also returns defensive tackle Adam Replogle, who led the team in sacks (4.0) and was second in tackles for loss (7.0).

Weaknesses: The offensive line will be a bit of concern with the losses of Andrew McDonald and Justin Pagan. The Hoosiers gave up 31 sacks last season and need to fill some gaps to open holes for Roberson and Houston. Defensively, the team takes a hit at linebacker with the departures of Jeff Thomas and Leon Beckum. Thomas led the team in tackles (80) and tackles for loss (10.5) while Beckum was fourth in tackles (53) and third in tackles of loss (5.5).

Outlook: An upside to playing a lot of freshman last season is the fact that the Hoosiers now have some experienced players to rely on this season. The schedule opens with three winnable games but traditionally, the Hoosiers have had their struggles in conference. In fact, IU hasn’t one more than one conference game in the past four seasons and it would be tough to find two winnable games this season. You can point to the fact that Indiana gets Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa and Wisconsin all at home as a plus but the pessimist would say its Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa and Wisconsin. If Wilson can bring in talented players, the Hoosiers could see bigger and better things in the comings seasons.